Lions' Jared Goff would appreciate it if the media stopped throwing gasoline on quarterback trade rumors. It isn't happening, not in 2023 anyway.
The Detroit Lions have their quarterback room set for the 2023 season: Jared Goff will start under center for the third straight year while 2023 third-rounder Hendon Hooker develops behind him.
It's a pretty cut-and-dried formula, right?
Not to one reporter who asked Goff a thorny question about wideout Jameson Williams' social media activity. Williams had liked a tweet about Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson coming to Detroit and… well, that was it. That was the question.
So how did Goff feel? He could have cared less.
Goff merely assumed the reporter was bored to the point where Lions players' social media likes were fueling content creation. In other words: Find a more creative angle, or get a new job.
The days of the Lamar Jackson contract saga are over. Literally, Jackson just signed a blockbuster extension with the Ravens a month ago, and any future trade involving the star quarterback doesn't make sense anymore.
Jared Goff shuts down Lamar Jackson trade rumors for hopefully the last time
It feels like lightyears ago when Lamar Jackson was rumored to join the Lions, with many citing his dual-threat abilities paired with Detroit's elite running backs and young outside targets as a playoff-contending offense in the making.
At the time, Jackson's path to the Lions was more difficult than that of other free agents since the Ravens placed an exclusive franchise tag on him in March. The Lions, Colts, and Falcons were some of the teams rumored to be interested in trading for Jackson, though nearly every franchise in the running ultimately pulled out of the race by the end.
Whether that was collusion or not, Jackson found his forever (or five-year) home in Baltimore.
Detroit ended up right back where they started, which was committed to Jared Goff after Goff's Pro Bowl-caliber season in 2022. The 28-year-old still has a few productive years left in him to help the Lions achieve imminent success, and he's not going to let silly distractions like months-old quarterback trade rumors get in the way.
Compared to the frantic and frenzied rumor-mongering and trade-speculating of prior months, yes, June has been more "boring" from the NFL media's perspective. That's still no excuse to dredge up the past. Let sleeping Lions lie.
